National Scholastic Surfing Championships

Surfing New Zealand
Manu Bay, Raglan New Zealand
20 - 24 April 2009

Bay Of Plenty And Auckland Make Perfect Starts To The Scholastics

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 20 April, 2009 : - - The 2009 National Scholastic Surfing Championships got underway at Manu Bay, Raglan today with the Bay of Plenty and Auckland teams making perfect starts to the five-day event. Both teams had all of their competing surfers progress through to their respective qualifying rounds. The other ten teams from the length of New Zealand all had at least one surfer relegated to the re-qualifying rounds.

A clean 0.5m - 1.0m swell ran down the point at Manu Bay all day however the strong offshore winds fluctuated much of the day making conditions clean at some stages yet near unsurfable during the gusts.

Several of the strong surfing regions stood out on day one but it was the Bay of Plenty and Auckland that put in complete performances. Bay of Plenty looked particularly strong with their three New Zealand reps including Open Men's Champion Matt Hewitt all shining in their heats.

Hewitt won his heat posting 15.50 out of a possible 20 points. Despite struggling as the wind began to pick up, Hewitt managed to lock in some big scores. Fellow team member and New Zealand representative Alex Dive also scored 15.5 points in his heat for an easy victory.

Dive has recently returned from Ecuador where he was the highest ranked New Zealand surfer placing 13th at the 2009 Quiksilver World Junior Championships.

Dive has since then gone on to represent New Zealand at the International Rip Curl GromSearch final in Australia before returning home to win the Volcom Qualifying Series event held at Raglan over the weekend. The most recent win gained Dive selection for the World Volcom Qualifying Series event to be held in the USA later in the year.

The two Bay of Plenty surfers were joined by team mates Todd Doyle in the Under 16 Boys Division as well as their junior surfers Kahu Craig Te Ranga, Levi Stewart and Peri Matange who all moved through to the second round.

The Auckland team was led by their star under 18 surfer Tim Thompson who posted 16.5 points to win his first round heat - the highest heat score of the day. Thompson also posted the highest single wave score of the day - 8.5 points out of a possible 10 for several smooth forehand re-entries.

Thompson will meet up with Hewitt as well as Charlie Denniston (Wtgn) in the second round for a clash that will be eagerly anticipated. Auckland's strength also lies in the Under 14 surfers with Elliot Paerata-Reid, Waretini Wano and Taylor Louie all progressing through to the second round. Auckland's under 16 boys also faired well with Sam Haven and Sid West progressing.

The strong offshore winds played havoc with several of the top seeds with the likes of Adam Cranston (Gis), Michael Mallalieu (Tara) and Patxi Scott - Arrieta (Northland) all suffering defeats today. The three surfers along with all other third and fourth placed surfers from day one will get the chance to redeem themselves on Tuesday when they contest the re-qualifying rounds under the second chance format.

Otago surfers Ben Bennett and Tom Bracegirdle progressed through their heats today with Bennett looking particularly strong on an 8.0 point ride. However Bennett only managed to scrape through with a 10.0 point heat total after becoming wave starved late in the heat. He finished second to Waikato surfer Haami Martin.

The host Waikato team had a mixed day of results with several of the top surfers moving through as well as a couple of surfers being relegated to the requalifying rounds. Nat Hughes made easy work of his under 16 boys heat with a 12.75 point total. Other team mates to progress included Emmett Homes, Corey Asplin and Tyler Barry.

Conditions are expected to remain similar over the next few days with an ease in wind strength which will be welcomed by all competitors. A call on the location for day two and order of events will be made at 7am each morning.

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